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Joint-Meeting Session April 20, 2025

Data management terminologies: from challenges to community recommendations

Plenary: RDA 25th Plenary Meeting [part of International Data Week 2025]

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Meeting objectives

Collaborative notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HoHLikJLJBcSp_yyiJnRjbuKqVruVCHM/edit

This session will present a collaborative paper in preparation, to be submitted as an RDA output at Plenary 25. The paper is based on the work initiated during Plenary 23, building on the challenges and insights shared by the community during that session. All interested participants were and are invited to contribute as co-authors.

The session focuses on the standardisation of data management terminologies, with an emphasis on FAIR principles and the enhancement of data management quality. Ambiguous or overlapping terms—such as Data Steward vs. Data Custodian, Dissemination vs. Archiving, or Repository vs. Data Lake—often lead to confusion, inconsistent practices, and reduced interoperability.

By aligning and clarifying terminology, we aim to improve the reliability, reproducibility, and usability of research data. The session will also address terminology governance and identify gaps in existing glossaries to support high-quality, sustainable data management across disciplines.

Meeting presenters

Romain David, Anne-Sophie Bage, Nektarios Liaskos, Paul Millar, Alison Specht, Pedro Correa

Meeting agenda

  • Chair: Romain David (facilitated via Radical Collaboration method)

    1. Opening & Context
      Content of the paper and objectives of the session15 min
      (Romain David)

    2. Round Table: Statements, Challenges & Solutions30 min
      (Each speaker presents briefly on their thematic area – approx. 5 min each)

      • Anne-Sophie Bage: Terminologies for Data Management Plans

      • Romain David: Terminologies for Competence Centres

      • Paul Millar: Terminologies for Data Services

      • Nektarios Liaskos: Terminologies for Virtual Research Environments (VREs)

      • Alison Specht: Terminologies for Data and Multilingual Challenges

      • Pedro Correa: Terminologies for Data in Machine Learning

    3. Open Discussion30 min

      • Strategies for harmonised terminology across data management tools supporting FAIR principles

      • Governance models for maintaining consistency and usability

      • The role of standardised terminologies in enhancing data quality, cataloguing services, and skills development

    4. Prioritisation of Recommendations (Interactive via Slido)10 min

    5. Wrap-Up & Next Steps for the paper

Target audience

Researchers, data stewards, data custodians, data managers

Group Activities and Scope

a BoF session during the 14th Plenary (Helsinki), and a first informal group of interested people was established.

At the 15th Virtual Plenary, a second BoF session was organised.

The group was formally endorsed around the 16th Virtual Plenary, which we celebrated during our VP16 breakout session.

We presented the first outcomes of the first three task groups (see below) at the P17 breakout session.

Subsequently, we had sessions at P18 , P19, P22, P23.

We also organised several webinar.

We are now organising this  paper sprint session on terminologies for data management and data management quality in P25.

Additional links to informative material

References:

  • David, R., Rybina, A., Burel, J., et al., 2023. “Be sustainable”: EOSC‐Life recommendations for implementation of FAIR principles in life science data handling. The EMBO Journal 42, e115008. https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2023115008 
  • David, R., Mabile, L., Specht, A., et al., 2020. “FAIRness Literacy: The Achilles’ Heel of Applying FAIR Principles.” Data Science Journal, 19(1), p.32. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-032 
  • David, R., Bouveret, L., Coché, L., et al., 2021. “Data dictionary cookbook for research data and software interoperability at global scale (1.0).” Research Data Alliance Plenary 17 (RDA P17), Edinburgh, remotely. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4683066
  • Aubin, S., Bage, A.-S., Bravo, S., et al., 2023. “Comment la Direction pour la Science Ouverte favorise l’adoption des approches sémantiques à INRAE.” In: Proceedings of the 2023 SOSEM Workshop. Available at: https://pfia23.icube.unistra.fr/Ateliers/sosem/articles/SOSEM2023_paper_2.pdf

Short Group Status

recognised-and-endorsed

Estimate of the required venue room capacity

30-50

Applicable Pathways

Training, Stewardship, and Data Management Planning
Semantics, Ontology, Standardisation

Avoid conflict with the following groups

Please indicate at least (3) three breakout slots that would suit your meeting.

Breakout 3. Wednesday, 15 October 2025, 01:30-03:00 UTC
Breakout 4. Wednesday, 15 October 2025, 23:00-00:30 UTC
Breakout 5. Thursday, 16 October 2025, 03:30-05:00 UTC